Volquez has short hair, long outing

Edinson Volquez sure looked different on the mound without the dreadlocks, but the Reds saw he returned from exile with the stuff that made him successful in the past.

In an 8-2 Reds win over the Cubs, Volquez had this line: 7 ip, 7 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. 105 pitches/61 strikes. And he survived a 30-pitch second inning where he left the bases loaded. He also induced two double plays from the Cubs.

“He was locating his fastball a lot better. That’s the Volquez we knew from before,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said.

Volquez had no ill will about being sent down to Triple-A Louisville on May 23.

“I knew I needed it. I was cool,” Volquez said. “I wasn’t mad with anybody because I was struggling in the big leagues. I had to do something. I went back to Triple-A and made the adjustments and came back to the big leagues like I did tonight.”

For the Reds to have a real shot at catching the Cardinals, they need Volquez to keep doing more of the same.

Notes:

*With two walks and one hit tonight, Joey Votto has now reached safely in 59 of his 61 games this season and 14 in a row.

*Jay Bruce has a nine-game hitting streak. He’s batting .412 (14-for-34) with three homers and 7 RBIs since May 29.

*Miguel Cairo hit the second grand slam of his career in the seventh inning to turn a 4-1 game into an 8-1 game.

*The Cubs defense? Not so stellar. A rally started in the fifth on a Volquez grounder through the left side. Aramis Ramirez and Starlin Castro each had alligator arms and let the ball squeak through. It was the beginning of a two-run inning.

*Among the day 2 notables, 3B Sean Buckley was taken by the Reds with a 6th-round pick. Buckley, who is listed rather large at 6-4 and 220 pounds, is the son of Reds amateur scouting director Chris Buckley. In the 22nd round, the club took LHP Amir Garrett from basketball powerhouse Findlay College Prep in Nevada. Garrett is already committed to play college basketball for St. John’s and is the No. 68 ranked hoops prospect, according to Rivals.com.

*Finally, there is a heat emergency for Wednesday’s day games and temps expected in the mid 90s.

Quotes:

“I didn’t see him until right before game time. He looked pretty good, real good actually. Brandon has been on him the whole spring about cutting that mess off his head. He looked handsome.” — Reds manager Dusty Baker on Volquez’s new short hair

“I got my haircut last night. It was too hot, the weather. I was tired too, three years of long hair. I decided to cut it out. … I love my hair. I’m keeping it at my house. I’m going to bring it tomorrow.” — Edinson Volquez

“We got a pretty good pitching staff. We need to start getting going. It’s already June. The heat is here. We have to take advantage of those other pitchers getting tired. Hopefully our pitchers, they get hot and start pitching good.” — Miguel Cairo

2 Comments

I made a comment a few weeks back that I thought Volquez needed to cut his hair, couse his balance was off and that is why he couldn’t find the strike zone. I was just joking then, but maybe the haircut provided the mojo that the Volqueno needed.

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